ABSTRACT

The framework for making development policy in the European Union (EU) has gone under a number of substantial changes since the beginning of the twenty-first century. These measures targeted the programme managed by the European Commission, but also aimed to federate the policies of the Member States around a common vision. The central argument of this chapter is that, in spite of the fears of a potential subordination to foreign and security policy, development cooperation has preserved its autonomy and has even increased its prominence in the EU’s external relations. To do so, this chapter is divided into three main sections. The first section discusses the framework introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht, which institutionalized the principles of complementarity, coordination, and coherence (the so-called 3Cs) with the view to improving aid effectiveness and raising the EU’s visibility in the international arena. Yet, progress was meagre, and at the end of the 1990s, some Member States threatened to repatriate their share of EU aid. The second section concentrates on the reform season that begun in the early 2000s. Of particular relevance are the reorganization of the management of EU external assistance, the decisions by the Member States to boost jointly the quantity and enhance the quality of aid and to promote better policy coherence for development and the adoption of the European Consensus on Development. The third section examines the development section of the Treaty of Lisbon and then focuses on the European External Action Service (EEAS). In particular, it looks at the debates between the High Representative, the Member States, the European Parliament and some development non-state actors on the competence of the EEAS over development policy.